Biological, biochemical and chemical analyses are often performed in a microplate format. Standard format microplates are promulgated by the Society for Biomolecular Screening (SBS). Of these, 96-well, 384-well, and 1536-well microplates are commonly used in scientific, analytical, and diagnostic pursuits. The SBS format enjoys an ecosystem of instrumentation suppliers for automated liquid handling, incubation, plate reading, plate storage and plate handling.
An alternate microwell format is based on hydrophobic/hydrophilic patterning. Arrays with hydrophilic elements in a hydrophobic background are available commercially (e.g., PTFE printed slides from TEKDON, Myakka City, Fla., USA).